It's sad to have to do this but it's all for the right reasons. If you had a child at this school you would certainly to know who is wandering around the school grounds.
Sadly its due to the society we live in, you only have to read the ET's recent reporting of 'Nearly 300 sex offences against young people in Northamptonshire' to see why this is such an important decision for the school.

It is al very well doing this but I beleive there is a public right of way through the school grounds what happens to this? This is why they had to build a path round the side of the Masque Theatre when the fenced the actual school buildings off.

Another side you have to look at is if the feilds are no longer accessable what happens to the youths that use it in the summer months? From a harmless game of Fotoball to anti-social behavior or being a pain in the backside in residential areas??

How long have people been using it? There are legal rules about rights of way and possession on property that belongs to another but which has been used freely for a certain amount of time...

The real problem is in't the fence as such but the failure of the school to communicate or even respond to requests for information and clarification by residents and parents of children at the infants school.
for many years we have enjoyed the ability to access, on foot, across the school grounds to the infants school for short periods am and pm to drop off and collect our children children. The rest of the time the access gate is locked.
The knock on could well be an increase in vehicle traffic in Belvoir drive
Latimer have been asked several times to clarify whether this access will continue but have refused to communicate.
The parish council received a report that the new head at latimer was not interested in what happens outside of her school - the report made on 14th Jan was 'what happens outside the school grounds isn't my problem'

I was at the meeting.

How are these teachers going to teach pupils respect and common courtesy when they cannot demonstrate the same to residents of the community in which they are based?

Remember OFSTED requires a school to be able to show it is working with community cohesion.

If the school had done nothing and a child was taken what would the reaction of the residents be?

I Left Latimer in 1982, at this time it was a open-plan School with a right of way to the Top Spinny and to Grays Field at the bottom. I was back in the UK last year and thought I would have a look around at the old School and what did I find, no longer a open plan school, it was more like a FENCED IN PRISON!!

May be it had been better to keep the post of ON SITE CARETAKER, I assume this position has been cut as the Caretaker Bungalow is nolonger standing (Please correct me if i am wrong).

I think the idea of Fencing around the School/ArtCollage is more like to keep the kid on site as to keep unwanted people out?

I have two sons who went to Latimer, one step-child there currently and have never felt that their security was under threat with there being no fence around the field. We do not have a problem with the security fence being there, just the fact that firstly, there was no communication from the school or council regarding the erection of the fence, access to the school in future and the closure of public rights of way (from Belvoir Drive through the Spinney and from Barton Road through the alley way to the top Spinney). These paths have apparently just been closed with no warning. There were three access points to the school at the top end of the field, one by the church at the bottom of sledge hill, one in the middle from the cow meadow and the other in the corner by the alleyway leading from Barton Road. These access sites are now closed by the fence with no gateway. The kids now have a much longer walk who used these points, consequently not particularly safe so the fence has put them in more danger than before as far as I can see. If the fence had more access points and were just locked up during the day when the school is in use, fair enough, but to just close all these access ways is just diabolical.

The front gate to the school is going to be open, so I am sure if some undesirable wanted to access the school that badly, then it could still be done. The fence is also easily climbable so I am sure it would not stop any sort of nut case from gaining access.

I sent an e-mail to the head teacher of the school asking for answers as to why this was being done a few weeks ago, to this date there has been no communication back. I know this has been the case for other residents.

Close the school during school hours by all means but please let the residents of a wholly peaceful village have a bit of green to enjoy for the rest of the time.

I have to agree that rather than a security issue, I feel that this is to stop the children escaping during the

You also have to remember that the community centre is within the grounds of this school and users have access right to it.
speaking personally as a resident and parent if the school was prepared to discuss this rather than brush us off we could have resolved so much a long time ago but they don't want to talk they just hide behind rules that may not even exist.
ray - when was last time a secondary school pupil was abducted from the grounds of their school? you are scare mongering.

Lets take the security issue first. Whilst everyone wants good security (my kids go there) there have been NO problems that I am aware of. So planning for the future then? Fine. The fence - supposedly - is for the students (& staff? how many work places are fenced in?!) so why not bolt the place up between 8:30 and 3:30 and give the community access to its facilities and walkways outside this and weekends? What's wrong with that? All they have to do is put some additional gates in on the north and east side to achieve this and everyone would be happy. Even with the fence up - the main gate is still open and anyone can walk in during the day - if they're going to, they will.

The footpath that has been declared 'deceased' by council order, has been subject to repeated approval requests for 4/5 years by the Parish Council. By all accounts it is the school that has been opposing it. The reasons for the fence the students have been told about (other than security) is that its to keep the kids in and residents out. Back to additional couple of gates and school hours lock down as a solution then! The Parish Council are unhappy with this whole situation and will be appealing against the closure of the footpath - we have until February the 11th. Complaints should be sent to:

Head of Corporate Governance
PO Box 104
County Hall
NORTHAMPTON
NN1 1AW

Funny how they don't mention this on the notice of appeal on the signs that have been put up on the footpaths that have been declared 'deceased'!

The residents problem here is that no consideration (or communication) has been given to them. They've created a prison and in doing so taken the heart out of the community. Sledgehammer to crack a nut springs to mind! If you want to see the impact for yourself, take a look at the 'before' and 'after' images...

http://latimerfence.live4noise.com/images/Slide1.jpg
http://latimerfence.live4noise.com/images/Slide2.jpg

There is a solution to improve security and maint

The three access points at the top of the field by the church, the cow meadow and the corner that leads to Barton Road alley way have now been closed. The kids that live on that side of the village now have a much longer walk to school either through the Spinney or on the main roads, isn't that much more dangerous than maybe a stranger one day walking onto the school site. We live in Barton Seagrave not New York.

I have to agree that I think this is more to keep the children in than strangers out and imprisoning children will just make for a very uneasy and unpositive atmosphere within the school.

My two sons have now left Latimer but not once did I feel that their safety was an issue while they were there. I would have been more worried if they'd have had a 15 minute walk rather than a 5 minute one!

I also feel for the elderly people who now do not have easy access through the site to get to the post office. Are they expected to walk further too?